Tag: Government Borrowing

Why Democrats Should Care About the National Debt
Health

Why Democrats Should Care About the National Debt

After his election as House speaker, Mike Johnson said one of his top priorities was the creation of a bipartisan commission to tackle the national debt. It’s a good idea that nearly 70% of voters in both parties support. In September, Reps. Scott Peters (D., Calif.) and Bill Huizenga (R., Mich.) introduced the Fiscal Commission Act of 2023, and 198 House Republicans voted for it as part of a government funding bill. Here’s why Democratic congressional leaders and the Biden administration should join the push:• Deficits are undermining the Biden economy. In the past year, the real federal budget deficit more than doubled, from $933 billion to $2 trillion. Democrats rightly argued that spending borrowed money was a critical economic support during the Covid pandemic. But the unemployment r...
The Big Problem With Government Debt Isn’t What You Think
Money

The Big Problem With Government Debt Isn’t What You Think

Investors are worried that Western governments are issuing more bonds than investors can buy. Whether the system that transacts in those bonds can bear the load could be a much more urgent issue.Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department said it would issue longer-term debt. Ten-year and 30-year government-bond yields, which had recently touched 16-year highs, have since fallen sharply.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Markets Got an Unexpected Boost From Washington. Will It Mark a Turning Point?
Money

Markets Got an Unexpected Boost From Washington. Will It Mark a Turning Point?

The Treasury Department handed investors a happy surprise last week. Now the question is how far they can run with it.Stocks and bonds both staged rallies last week, getting a boost when the Treasury increased the size of longer-term debt auctions by a smaller amount than many had expected.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Three Concerns Facing Markets: Economy, Government Spending, the Fed
Money

Three Concerns Facing Markets: Economy, Government Spending, the Fed

Wednesday provided a perfect demonstration of the three most important issues facing markets: the economy, government spending and the Federal Reserve.Ten-year Treasury yields posted their third-biggest daily drop since March, when Silicon Valley Bank failed. Investors put equal weight on the three issues—knocking 0.05 percentage point off the yield after each of three events—as their worries eased about the pace of growth, the scale of government bond issuance and how long the Fed will keep rates high.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Three Concerns Facing Markets: Economy, Government Spending, the Fed
World

Three Concerns Facing Markets: Economy, Government Spending, the Fed

Wednesday provided a perfect demonstration of the three most important issues facing markets: the economy, government spending and the Federal Reserve.Ten-year Treasury yields posted their third-biggest daily drop since March, when Silicon Valley Bank failed. Investors put equal weight on the three issues—knocking 0.05 percentage point off the yield after each of three events—as their worries eased about the pace of growth, the scale of government bond issuance and how long the Fed will keep rates high.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Fed Pause Helps Treasury Yields Retreat and Stocks Climb
Money

Fed Pause Helps Treasury Yields Retreat and Stocks Climb

Many investors on Wednesday looked to the Federal Reserve for hints about whether this autumn’s unusual ascent in Treasury yields would help finish America’s inflation fight. The central bank’s message: maybe. In the tug of war between low-risk government debt and higher-risk equities, that was enough of a signal to push stocks higher Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%, or 222 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 1.6%. The S&P 500 increased 1.1%, led by the information-technology and communication services sectors. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Stocks End October With Gains, Post Monthly Losses
Money

Stocks End October With Gains, Post Monthly Losses

A busy day for corporate earnings reports ended with major stock indexes higher, though not enough to prevent them from a third-straight monthly decline. The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% on Tuesday, to end October 2.2% lower. Every industry segment in the benchmark index rose, with real-estate companies, banks and utilities leading the way. Arista Networks paced the index, gaining 14% after the networking equipment company beat quarterly sales and profit expectations.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Greece’s Great Economic Comeback – WSJ
Business

Greece’s Great Economic Comeback – WSJ

Talk about an economic comeback story. Less than a decade ago, Greece looked like it might never recover from its economic and political traumas. On Friday it won back an investment-grade credit rating from Standard & Poor’s.The upgrade on Greek debt achieves a goal set by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, although it also sells short the scale of the transformation Mr. Mitsotakis has brought about in Athens. S&P Global cited “significant budgetary consolidation” and the summer’s electoral “mandate for policy continuity” to explain its decision—which, as so often with credit ratings, arrives behind the curve and for the wrong reasons.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Bond Rout Drives 10-Year Treasury Yield to 5%
Money

Bond Rout Drives 10-Year Treasury Yield to 5%

Listen to article(2 minutes)A deepening selloff in the U.S. bond market drove the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note to 5% for the first time in 16 years, extending a rout that has rattled stocks, lifted mortgage rates and fueled persistent fears of an economic slowdown. A critical driver of U.S. borrowing costs, the 10-year yield rose to within a few thousandths of a percentage point of 5% last week following an unexpectedly strong retail-sales report and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that reinforced investor bets on stubbornly high short-term interest rates. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Don’t Rule Out a Financial Crisis in China
World

Don’t Rule Out a Financial Crisis in China

Updated Oct. 19, 2023 12:03 am ETThe world’s second largest economy has a deflating property bubble, local governments struggling to pay their debts and a banking system heavily exposed to both.Anywhere else these factors would be seen as precursors of a financial crisis. But not in China, conventional wisdom goes, because its debts are owed to domestic rather than foreign investors, the government already stands behind much of the financial system and capable technocrats are on top of things.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8